


To Save a Life She Didn't Have

by Mobi_On_A_Mission



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don't Worry About It, F/M, in which the anomaly and sheidheda and all that aren't a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23833111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mobi_On_A_Mission/pseuds/Mobi_On_A_Mission
Summary: With the death of the last Prime, oblation was over. The new council was building a Sanctum led by the people, not by gods. So when Emori ended up in the Offering Grove during her walk through the woods, she never would have expected she’d leave it with a discarded baby in her arms.
Relationships: Emori/John Murphy (The 100)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 44





	To Save a Life She Didn't Have

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "In the Woods Somewhere" by Hozier because this is _fanfic_ and Hozier lyrics are a staple around here. Thank you to the one and only [mylifeiskara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylifeiskara/pseuds/mylifeiskara) for helping me to fix this up!

The woods were a familiar sight. Tall, all-encompassing, a canopy of leaves sheltering the ground from rain and peering eyes. It was a familiar kind of calm. Emori shouldn’t have been out there in the woods, not when there were laws to be drawn and homes to be built and a people to lead back in Sanctum. But her head was spinning, heavy with the weight of a million decisions she never imagined she’d have to make. Even having lived it, she could hardly believe how she’d gone from a frikdreina infant left out like someone’s garbage to something of a queen. Now she was part of Sanctum’s council: likely the last outpost of humanity in existence. Things were good, but they were also tiring. It wasn’t often that Emori got to rest.

Out in the open dusk air with no one else in sight, she could finally breathe. It reminded her of the old days, back on Earth, when she would go out on her own to run a simple con or grab supplies for herself and Otan. She didn’t know it, not back then, but those were the simplest days of her life.

Emori let her legs carry her wherever they pleased, between the trees and among the brush. Her footfalls were silent, too trained by a lifetime in the shadows to stop walking in her calculated way.

Before long, she found herself in the Offering Grove. There were no new offerings anymore. With the Primes dead, there were no more oblations. Now it was empty, just a graveyard of bones still wrapped in vines. Scavenging bugs picked at the skeletons, still wrapped in tattered clothes and slowly falling apart.

The sight of it was sickening. The dead deserved better, deserved a proper burning. The leaders of Sanctum were planning a mass funeral for these sacrifices, but they hadn’t gotten to it yet. It was like Clarke said: _The dead are gone. The living are hungry_. Most of the people offered in the Grove didn’t leave behind many to mourn their deaths anyway.

No one went there anymore. The council had all but banned it, not that anyone would fight them on it if they tried. There were too many ghosts.

Something caught Emori’s eye on her way out of the Grove: a little blob of pale skin laid against a tree. She crept closer, eyebrows knitting together. There was no more oblation. The Primes were all dead now. _It couldn’t be._

It absolutely was. Right there, pulled tight to a tree in the Offering Grove, vines nearly cutting off his airway, was a _baby_. A baby—no more than a few days old. The baby wasn’t crying. He wasn’t making any sound at all: more than likely he was dead.

Emori crouched and dipped her head low, right by the baby’s face. She heard shallow breathing, so labored she knew he wouldn’t stay alive much longer if she didn’t do something about it.

She took the knife out of her thigh holster and sliced away the vines. Emori stripped off her jacket and grabbed the baby from against the tree, swaddling him in the fabric and cradling him in her arms. She set her finger in the baby’s little hand and he gripped onto her weakly. He was unlike any other baby she’d ever met. This one was smaller, frailer, much closer to death. But Emori wasn’t going to let that happen. Not now, not ever.

“Shhh,” she said. “It’s okay, little one. You’re going to be okay. I’m not going to let you die out here all alone.”

For now, he was safe in her arms. But that kind of safety could only last so long without medical attention, without food. How long could a newborn go without milk? With vines wrapped around their chest? She needed to get him to Jackson, back up in Sanctum.

Her eyes darted across the forest as she walked. No longer did the forest feel safe. Yet again, she was just a little girl in the woods, scared of what monsters might lurk in the dark. A newborn couldn’t last long in the Offering Grove. He was left there recently, long after the death of the last Prime.

Her jaw clenched. Whoever left him, she was going to make them pay.

* * *

The main room of the clinic was crowded with people, each one with a bloody arm or twisted ankle. Nurses were scurrying about tending to the patients, stitching them up and sending them on their way. Jackson looked exhausted, bags under his eyes as he looked over the more serious cases.

Jackson had his work set out for him. There weren’t many people left to deal with the onslaught the clinic was under, not after Abby and Cillian died. Sanctum was evolving, and that growth came with growing pains: resistance from the devout, petty crime, and a slew of construction injuries. The Sanctumites just couldn’t stop falling off buildings or stepping into holes. Growing up in safety had its downfalls, after all.

When Jackson looked up to see Emori standing there just inside the door, he dropped everything to rush over to her.

His face hardened, looking straight at the bundle in her arms. “What is it?”

“It’s a baby, Jackson,” she deadpanned.

“Where’d you get it?”

She grabbed the sleeve of Jackson’s shirt and pulled him through a door and into an empty exam room.

He shut the door behind them with a click. He repeated himself more slowly and comfortingly, concern written all over his face. “Where’d you get the baby, Emori?”

She took a brief glance at the baby, then met Jackson’s eye. “The Offering Grove.”

“Fuck.” It was only one word, but Emori knew exactly what he meant.

“Right.” Her jaw clicked. “Can you look at him? He was hardly breathing when I found him. He hasn’t even cried. Babies are supposed to cry.”

Jackson nodded and motioned for her to sit down. Keeping the baby cradled in her arms, she removed the jacket she had swaddled around him and looked back up to Jackson, searching for a glimmer of hope in his eye. Anything to let her know the baby was gonna be okay.

Jackson said nothing, holding his stethoscope to the baby’s chest. Emori searched his face for a sign, but it didn’t give anything away.

“Can you take off his clothes?”

She nodded and pulled the baby’s clothes off with tender hands. There were scratches and bruises covering his little body. Jackson examined each one before looking back to Emori with a relieved smile.

“He’s gonna be okay,” he said. “At least I think so. There’s damage. We’ll need to keep him here, keep an eye on that airway and keep him fed and safe from whoever put him out to die like this.”

Emori nodded, gazing back down and letting the baby hold onto her finger. She couldn’t hear much after ‘He’s gonna be okay,’ but she knew it was good. That’s all she needed to know.

“I can take it from here. You can go now, Emori.” Jackson lay a hand on her forearm, and she flinched away from him, clutching the baby more tightly to her chest.

“ _No._ ” The word was harsh, a menace returning to her voice she’d scarcely used in years. Now that she had taken this baby from the Grove, she couldn't imagine leaving him. What if something happened to him? She couldn’t let him die.

“If he’s here, I’m here.” She tilted her head to Jackson, a challenge in her eye: _try and stop me_.

Jackson parted his lips and held his hands up in feigned surrender. “Whatever you want—that’s fine by me.”

Emori softened her body, loosening her grip on the baby.

“Let me dress his wounds first,” Jackson said. “Then we’ll set you up in a room. There’s not many, but I’m sure we can work something out.”

* * *

Time passed in a blur and Emori couldn’t be sure how long it had been, but she spent all of it with the baby, staring down at him and resting her finger in his grip as people poked and prodded at him with clinical motions. With every one who came by her, her resolve to stay with the baby grew.

A nurse came by with a bottle of milk and showed Emori how to feed the baby. He rejected the bottle at first, snubbed it like he had no survival instinct at all. If she were any less freaked out, Emori would have laughed.

As it was, she just grew colder.

But then he latched on and started sucking. It was weak—slower than Emori expected it to be. He fed for what felt like forever.

He was finishing the last few drops of the bottle when the door creaked open once more. Emori’s face shot up at the sound, ready to pounce. She clutched the baby to her chest yet again, the bottle almost falling out of his mouth at the motion. Emori’s senses were on high alert. As exhausted as she was, she was fully prepared to fight.

John appeared at the door, and Emori could finally breathe again. She removed the bottle from the baby’s mouth and placed it on the table next to her. She let her head fall back against the chair and her eyes fall closed.

He clicked the door shut and slipped into the room. His footsteps padded across the floor. He tapped at her thigh and she scooted to the side to make room for him next to her.

John sat down and dropped his head on her shoulder. His voice was sleepy when he spoke. “You wanna talk about it, Mori?”

She couldn’t tell for sure with her own eyes closed, but she imagined his were too. “What’s there to talk about?” Emori was probably lying to herself, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“You know what.”

She peeked her eyes open and saw him lightly stroking the baby’s head.

“It’s okay if you wanna wait, but we’re gonna have to talk about it.”

“Okay,” she said, messing up John’s hair with her cheek as she nodded.

With John by her side, the anxiety coursing through Emori’s body quieted. It wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Emori’s eyes fluttered open to a bright room. Light from the two suns filtered in the open window through the sheer curtain dancing in the breeze. John was still pressed next to her, but he’d lifted his head from her shoulder. He didn’t notice she was awake, too busy gazing at the little baby that was now cradled in his arms, his thumb stroking absentmindedly over the baby’s chest as he slept.

It was such a beautiful sight. Emori couldn’t believe how lucky she’d gotten. Even with all the pain in her life, somehow she still got to have moments like this. She tilted her head to kiss John’s jaw and he turned his head to her.

“It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it Mori?”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” She traced her fingers up and down his arm.

He sighed. “What are we gonna do with this little guy?”

“I can’t let him die, John.” Emori shook her head. “He can’t die.”

“Hey.” John brought his free hand up to hold her chin in place so she had to meet his gaze. “Of course we’re not gonna let him die. Just—where do you see this going, long term?”

“I don’t know. I just can’t let him die, John. I can’t.”

He stroked his thumb over her cheek. “You need to make sure he’s safe?”

She nodded minutely, tears welling in her eyes.

“He’s gonna be okay, Jackson said. You did such a great job saving him, Mori… You saved his life. No one’s gonna hurt him like that again.”

There was still a pit in Emori’s stomach. “What if they take him back and feed him to the trees again?”

“Not that many babies are born around here. Echo is already questioning the parents. We’re gonna take care of it.”

“Good.” She moved her arms to grab the baby again and John let her scoop him out of his arms to lay on her chest. With her hand across his tiny back, she could feel the gentle rise and fall of his breathing. “I don’t know how I can let him go. Even if he’s safe, I just-” She let out a sharp exhale.

“He’s _you_.”

“-Yeah.” She nodded. “He’s me.”

Nulls on Sanctum weren’t unlike frikdreina on Earth. If Emori hadn’t found him… she couldn’t bear the thought. He would’ve died. Or someone terrible would have found him, like Baylis found her. Someone who would beat him and starve him and manipulate him and turn him into a coldhearted killing machine. The worst part of it was, there was no way to tell who the monsters were.

The thought of it terrified her.

Emori and Murphy sat in silence, curled up together on the chair and tending to the baby as best as they could. They didn’t talk about what it all meant—didn’t talk about Emori or the woods or how inexplicably attached she’d grown to the baby. Both of them knew what it meant. They didn’t need to say a word about it, just whispered sweet words and prayers of safety.

Emori hadn’t even processed that she was hungry when Echo came in with a tray of food and a grim smile on her face. “It’s done.”

John sat forward in the chair. “And?”

“And it’s done. They confessed. We have them in custody. We’ll hold a trial by jury and figure out their sentence.”

“For the glory and grace of the Primes,” Emori whispered. “They’re not even alive, yet they’re still killing people.”

John squeezed her knee. “They didn’t kill _this_ one.”

“They were close, John. Something needs to change.”

Echo set the tray down in front of them. “Any great ideas?”

John grinned, a self-assured chuckle escaping his throat. “I got one.”

Echo raised her eyebrows. “And what’s that, Murphy?”

“I say we burn the Offering Grove to the ground.”

* * *

It didn’t happen immediately. In fact, it was four years before they did it. Emori stood in the Offering Grove, gripping her son’s hand in hers. It was a sunny day: the light from the twin suns filtered through the canopy of leaves to cast a warm glow on the ground. They’d cleared the bones years ago, and now the Grove looked like any other patch of forest.

Standing there still sent a shiver through Emori’s body.

They started with the tree she’d found her son bound to, all those years ago. He took the first swing of the axe. He’d been quiet all morning, sensing his parents’ nerves. The axe barely left a dent in the tree, but he grinned so wide as he pulled away that Emori knew he appreciated having the chance.

She got to take the next swing. And the next. Again and again, pushing out every morsel of energy she had in her. Emori couldn’t help but smile, halfway between laughing and screaming with the liberation of it all. Her arms gave out and she couldn’t hold the axe up anymore. She handed it off to the next person and ran back to her family. One of John’s hands was holding onto their son’s, but the other was free to curl around her waist and pull her close.

“Are you okay, Nomon?” Her son asked, peering up at her from his father’s side.

“Of course.” She crouched down and took his face in between her hands. “I’m more okay than I’ve been in a long time.”

And she was. The tree fell, then the next, then the next. John set the fire, and they all watched it burn. For the first time in her life, Emori was free.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Beautiful People!
> 
> I hope you are having a great day. I got the idea for it in the spur of the moment kind of deal. I was lying in bed and _literally_ jolted up when I thought of it. So then naturally I wrote the premise down in my phone's notes app and eventually wrote it out as a fic. I hope you liked it! Turns out I kinda have a thing for using babies as props in my memori fic. First [Revive](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22205728/chapters/53017510) and now this! I would say I'm sorry but since you've made it this far I figure you're okay with that sort of thing ;)
> 
> Please let me know what you think or just scream about any old thing down in the comments section! I love to hear from you all and get way too excited every time I get an email from ao3 :) Also you can find me on [tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/mobi-on-a-mission)
> 
> -Mobi ❤️


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